What The Headlines Tell Us About The News Organization

I was reading the LA Times online today and there's a story about all the people running for LA mayor next year.  The latest entrant appears to be Rep. Karen Bass, an LA Democrat.  I was confused by this sentence:

"Voters now have a much clearer picture of next year’s contest to replace Garcetti, who faces term limits."  

I thought he'd been named Ambassador to India.  Is he still mayor?  So I googled "LA Mayor Garcetti  India" and got this page.  I've cut much of it and just left the headlines. These are all dated July 9, 2021 or thereabouts.  They're all pretty much the same, except one:

"Search Results    Web results

Biden nominates LA Mayor Eric Garcetti to be ambassador to ...https://dailybruin.com › 2021/07/26 › biden-nominates...

Garcetti is Biden's pick for ambassador to India - Los Angeles ...https://www.latimes.com › california › story › la-mayor...

Mayor Garcetti Selected as Ambassador to India - NBC Los ...https://www.nbclosangeles.com › news › politics › la-m...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti picked for ambassador ... - CNNhttps://www.cnn.com › 2021/07/09 › politics › eric-garcet...

Biden nominates LA Mayor Eric Garcetti for India ambassadorhttps://apnews.com › article

Biden Chooses Scandal-Plagued L.A. Mayor Garcetti As India ...https://www.forbes.com › sites › joewalsh › 2021/07/09

Biden taps Eric Garcetti for India ambassador posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com › politics › 2021/07/09

Biden picks Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti to be US ambassador ...https://www.reuters.com › world › biden-nominate-los-an...

Joe Biden Taps Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti To Servehttps://deadline.com › 2021/07 › joe-biden-taps-los-ang...

President Biden Nominates LA Mayor Eric Garcetti For ... - LAisthttps://laist.com › news › politics › president-biden-no...

 There are lots of criticisms of the subtle ways that media's choice of words biases a reader's perception of the story.  But there's nothing subtle about this.  I haven't read the articles.  Perhaps the Forbes one is more of an opinion piece than a news item.  It certainly stands out.  

But I was still trying to find out why Garcetti is still Mayor and not in India.  My guess was Senate confirmation backlog, but I couldn't find anything that said that.  Various google searches kept getting me the same articles dated around July.  Even ones that said "When is he leaving office?"

Finally, when I put Sept 2021 in the search, while I still got the same July articles, I did get this one ABC News article  that has a similar focus to the LA Times article - who is running to replace him - but it does include this sentence:

"Mayor Eric Garcetti cannot run again in 2022 due to being termed out. He was nominated in July by President Joe Biden to serve as U.S. ambassador to India. He is expected to leave office early pending the U.S. Senate's confirmation of his appointment."

Why?  According to an August 11 LATimes article:

"Yet [Gentry O. Smith's] April nomination, like many made by President Biden for the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and elsewhere, sat stalled for months in Senate committees, where a few Republican lawmakers blocked approval.

Although nominations were blocked across the board, the State Department was hardest hit: As of Monday night, more than six months into the Biden administration, only one of the president’s ambassador picks had been approved, leaving nearly 50% of all embassies without their top official, according to the American Foreign Service Assn. Early Wednesday, a second ambassador, Kenneth Salazar for Mexico, was confirmed in a marathon Senate session."

It goes on:

Foremost among those blocking nominees is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has held back as many as two dozen State Department appointees, on demands that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken penalize all international firms and individuals involved in the construction of a Russian pipeline to Europe.

Blinken complained last week that 65 nominations were still pending a confirmation vote. Some of those, including Smith’s nomination, this week squeaked through the Senate approval process on the eve of Congress’ August recess after languishing for months.

“These are critical national security positions,” Blinken said, specifically mentioning the assistant secretary of State for diplomatic security, Smith’s designated position.

I've just started reading :KILL SWITCH THE RISE OFTHE MODERN SENATE AND THE CRIPPLING OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, by Adam Jentleson.  He was Senator Harry Reid's top assistant and this book is aimed as dispelling the myths around the 'sacred tradition' of the filibuster. 

I'll probably have more on that book later.